Fox Expects Big Ad Kick From Soccer Line-Up

Brian Steinberg

11 June 2024 at 8:00 am·2-min read

Fox Sports thinks a massive soccer lineup that commences later this week will help Madison Avenue reach many of its goals.

“We feel like it’s the must-see TV of the summer,” says Mike Petruzzi, senior vice president of Fox Sports ad sales, in an interview. “We have seen a lot of the big soccer events perform really well with co-viewing and families, which I think you will continue to see.”

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Starting Friday, June 14, and continuing through Sunday, July 14, Fox Sports is broadcasting not only its first presentation of UEFA EURO but also an expanded edition of Copa America that features the U.S. Men’s National Team facing top opponents. In a single 30-day stretch, Fox Sports will offer a schedule of 78 games over 223 hours of live soccer programs aired across Fox, FS1 and FS2. Euro games should air largely in late morning and in the afternoon while the Copa tournament will run in late afternoons and primetime. The Copa games start airing on Thursday, June 20.

“It’s almost like a dry run of the World Cup, which is coming in the summer of 2026,” says Petruzzi.

Fox has spent the last several years building up its portfolio of soccer rights. Even so, 2026 will mark its last chance to air World Cup soccer under its current contract, and a successful start with Euro and Copa may lend the company a boost when it comes to selling time in the 2026 tournament. NBCUniversal’s Telemundo has Spanish-language broadcasting rights to the event.

Autos, insurance and consumer electronics have been active buyers of commercial inventory, the executive says, with some demand from marketers of financial-services, movies and streaming programs.

“We are extremely tight in some of the bigger matches,” he adds.

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